


Tea and Romance

by cece_12569 (orphan_account)



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Azula (Avatar) Needs a Hug, Badass Sokka (Avatar), Big Brother Sokka (Avatar), F/M, Oblivious Zuko (Avatar), Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Ozai (Avatar) is an Asshole, Tea Server Zuko (Avatar), Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, azula is hella gay, the cabbage man actually has a role
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-14 08:54:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29043438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/cece_12569
Summary: Katara is attending Ba Sing Se University with her friends, Toph, Aang, Suki and her older brother Sokka. One day, her , Toph and Aang decide to check out a new tea shop called "The Jasmine Dragon." There, Katara meets an awkward tea server name Zuko. Little does she know, He is actually Zuko Sozin, brother to Katara's rival Azula.
Relationships: Azula/Ty Lee (Avatar), Katara/Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 14





	1. The Jasmine Dragon: Fine Tea and Dumplings

Katara was looking down at the GPS on her phone trying to figure out where Toph and Aang had wanted them to meet up. Aang had told her that a new tea shop had opened right next to their friend Kyabetsu’s cabbage and produce stand. The problem was, Katara had no idea where Aang meant. Kyabetsu moved his cabbage stand nearly every day. He liked to think of himself as a “traveling peddler of goods.” Katara sighed and typed “The Jasmine Dragon” into her phone once again. This time to her surprise, it popped up. It said that the tea shop was about a two minute walk. She glanced back at her phone and followed the directions. In almost no time she was standing in front of a quaint tea shop with a sign that read: “The Jasmine Dragon’s Fine Tea and Dumplings” in a gold cursive script.

The shop was open air with walls on three sides, and rich green curtains tied back making the fourth wall and entrance. An old man standing behind the counter of the shop greeted Katara heartily. “Welcome to the Jasmine Dragon!” He said. Katara smiled at him and then looked around the room, and found Toph and Aang sitting on emerald green cushions in the corner of the shop. Aang saw Katara and waved her over. “Hey Katara!” He said, fiddling with his yellow beanie. “SUGAR QUEEN!” Toph said, “Is that you?” “In the flesh.” Katara laughed. Toph was blind, but she opted out of having a seeing eye dog. Instead, she claimed that Aang’s pet lemur, Momo, was her seeing eye lemur.

She sat down on a cushion across from her friends and took out her laptop. “Okay.” She said, “Who’s ready to study for Professor Tong’s Water Tribe Lit exam?” “Not me.” Toph groaned, “Tong’s the biggest butt in the Four Nations.” She was right about that. Wan Shi Tong was nefarious for giving insanely hard exams, not being very polite to his students. He believed that just because he was a graduate from the Fire Nation Academy rather than Ba Sing Se University that he was better than everyone.”Oh, come on guys! He really isn’t that bad.” Aang said, drumming his fingers on the table. “I mean, he does teach some interesting things.” “Seriously Aang I-” Before a fight could break out, a server came to their table.

He was tall with dark shaggy hair and golden eyes, but the most noticeable thing about him was a huge scar that covered his left eye. “Uh hi,” he said, “Can I take your order?” Toph and Aang looked up at him. “We’ll have three cups of ginseng tea please.” Aang told him, once again fidgeting with his beanie. Ginseng tea was what they had always used to get at Jeong Jeong’s tea shop. He closed it a few months ago so that he could retire at Ember Island. That’s why they had gone to the Jasmine Dragon today. The boy walked away to make our order.

Aang turned back to his textbook and began mouthing the words to himself as he read. Toph put in her headphones and began to listen to an audiobook version of the text, leaving Katara to study by herself. She scrolled through her pages of notes on her laptop, completely overwhelmed by how much there was to study. Katara sighed and tried to focus. Eventually she gave up and closed her laptop. She fished around in her bag and pulled out her sketchbook. She flipped it open to her most recent sketch. One of Aang and her brother Sokka. They were both doing a ridiculous pose where Aang had his arms folded across his chest, and Sokka put his elbow on Aang’s shoulder, using it like a table. Sokka had only agreed to pose for her sketch if he got to do a silly pose.

She flipped the page to a fresh one. Katara wanted to draw something new, something interesting. She looked around the quaint tea shop until she found the perfect muse. The boy that had taken their order. She got out her pencils and got to work, drawing the shape of his face and his messy dark hair. As Katara was putting the finishing touches on her drawing, the boy came back to their table with the tea. He set down Toph and Aang’s tea with no problem, but when he got to Katara, he spilled the tea on her. “Oh my god!” He exclaimed, “I’m so so sorry!” He reached into his apron pocket and pulled out some napkins trying to seep up all of the tea that had spilled on the table. “No, no.” Katara said, “It's fine, really.” She grabbed her napkin from the table and helped to clean up. Toph and Aang did so as well. As he was helping to clean up, the boy picked up Katara’s sketch book.

“Hey, is this me?” He asked, holding up the sketch that Katara had just drawn. Oh my god. Oh my god. Katara thought. I had never meant for him to see that! She cleared her throat and said “Yeah, it is.” Aang leaned over towards the drawing. “Wow, that’s really good Katara. Like really good. What’s it called?” Aang knew that every time Katara did a new sketch she titled it something. Kind of like how a poet would title a poem. “What about Zuko?” The boy said. “That is my name after all.” _Zuko._ Katara thought. _That’s a nice name._ “Sure.” She said as she scribbled ‘Zuko’ on the top of the page. “You can keep this if you want, you know.”

He took the sketch from her, said thanks, and left the table. Once Zuko was out of earshot, Toph said in a sing-songy voice, “You like him don’t you?” “What?! No I don’t!” Katara said defensively. “Anyway, I should probably get back to my dorm and change. You guys enjoy your tea.” She stood up and walked out of the tea shop, to get a ride on the first trolley back to Ba Sing Se University.

On the trolley ride she tried not to think about anything. Not the upcoming exam in Professor Tong’s class, and certainly not Zuko from the tea shop. She got off the trolley at her stop and walked towards the sweeping campus of Ba Sing Se University. Part of why she had chosen to go to the school were the grounds. There were imperial style buildings painted pale cream with green shingled roofs and golden molding around the exterior. The lawn was neatly kept with decorative shrubs lining the sidewalks. Katara walked towards her door room, hoping not to run into anyone. But to her dismay, she did.

Azula Sozin was walking directly towards her, flanked by her two sidekicks, Mai and Ty Lee. Each looked impeccable in their own way. Azula was wearing a deep red short sleeved crop with black skinny jeans and black high heeled boots. Mai looked like she had just raided Hot Topic, wearing black lipstick, a black choker and a black dress with black fishnets and platform shoes. Ty Lee on the other hand looked like a Brandy Melville model. She was wearing a short pastel pink skirt and creamy off the shoulder top with her chestnut hair tied back in her trademark high ponytail. “Look who it is.” Azula smirked, “Did the Water Tribe peasant have an accident?” “I’m not surprised.” Mai said in her monotone voice. She always sounded bored. Azula Sozin had been bullying Katara since she had started at this school. She was the daughter of the richest man in Fire Nation so she thought that she was better than everyone else. Katara narrowed her eyes. She wanted to say something to defend herself, something that would really sting, but she couldn’t. Even though Azula was terrible, she couldn’t bear to be nasty back. She wouldn’t stoop to their level. Instead, she pushed past them and continued walking to her dorm.

That night as she lay in bed trying to fall asleep, thoughts of Azula Sozin, and Zuko from the tea shop kept her awake. She was used to not being able to sleep because she was thinking about Azula, it was the part about Zuko that worried her. She hadn’t laid awake at night thinking about a boy in years. Not since Jet. She didn’t want what had happened to happen to Zuko. She didn’t want him to die.


	2. To Katara’s Dismay Azula Sozin Hosts A Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I honestly have no idea where this story is going. Sorry this chapter is so short! The next one will be longer. I promise!

“Come on Twinkle Toes, it wasn’t that bad.” Toph said as she, Katara, and Aang made the trek back to their dorms. “Yes it was, Toph.” Aang said, playfully pushing her on the shoulder. “Professor Tong called me out in front of the ENTIRE class, for spilling my lychee juice ON ACCIDENT.” He sighed, turning towards Katara. “Was it really that bad?” He asked. “Well,” she said, “You only disrupted the whole class while we were taking the exam, which caused Professor Tong to add an extra essay question. Sokka would be proud.” Aang laughed, but stopped abruptly.

He was staring at a bulletin board, filled with all of the school announcements. Almost immediately, Katara saw what he was looking at. In the dead center of the board was a flyer. It read: Ty Lee’s 20th birthday party. The Sozin Manor. Starts at 8 PM. Invite Only. “Hey, what are you guys looking at?” Toph asked, tapping Katara on the shoulder. “Apparently, Azula Sozin is hosting a party for Ty Lee.” Katara said, rolling her eyes. “Why are we stopped here then?” Top said, “Don’t you hate her?”

“Hate is a very strong word.” A voice said from behind them. Katara whipped around, and she was face to face with none other than Azula Sozin. “I’ve decided to invite you losers to Ty Lee’s party. Maybe you can learn some class.” She smirked, dropping five gold invitations at Katara’s feet. Then, Azula turned and struted away, her black heels clicking menacingly on the pavement. “Well,” Aang said cheerfully, “Looks like we’re going to a party!”

Later that night, Katara was sitting on her bed, with Suki. “Azula gave us those invitations for a reason,” Suki said, as she undid a braid in her hair. “It’s only seven right now,” She continued. “We could still go, if you want.” Katara switched positions so she was sitting cross legged and sighed. “You know what?” She said. “We will go. If anything, it’ll show her that I’m not afraid to put up a fight.” “Great.” Suki smiled. “I’ll text Sokka.”

An hour later, Suki, Sokka, Aang, Toph and Katara were standing on the doorstep of the Sozin Manor. The main house was a huge traditional style style building, with a koi pond in front. And that was only the first building. There were at least five others behind the main one. Instantly, Katara felt self conscious. She had chosen to wear a pale blue sundress with spaghetti straps and cream heels. Her mother’s betrothal necklace also felt extremely out of place in an area that was mostly shades of deep burgundy and gold. She wished that she had worn something more like Suki. Suki had chosen to wear a light green crop top and denim cutoffs. Effortlessly cool. Aang knocked on the door once again. Finally, after what seemed like hours, Azula and Ty Lee answered the door. Similarly to Suki, they both also looked chic. Azula was wearing an extremely short deep red dress, and Ty Lee was wearing an off the shoulder pastel pink dress.

“Finally.” Azula said, “I didn’t think you were coming.” To anyone else, this may have seemed like a fairly normal thing to say, but Katara saw right through her faux sweetness. Whatever Azula had planned, it was going to be bad. She led them through the dazzling foyer, and down into the basement. Tons of people were already down there. Laughing and drinking and playing foosball. Sokka instantly made his way towards the snack table. “FIRE FLAKES HERE I COME.” He yelled, scooping up a handful. Aang and Toph made a beeline for an old Wii in the corner. Even though she couldn’t see, for some reason, Toph had always had a certain nostalgia for the Wii. Suki and Katara went to a table to sit down and talk. They did so for a while, and Katara started to loosen up.

Then, at exactly the wrong moment, Katara looked up. Walking down the stairs was Mai, with a familiar looking boy. He had shaggy dark hair, and an unforgettable scar. They were holding hands. It was the boy from the tea shop. Zuko.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know how to get rid of the note below this! Sorry!


End file.
